By 
- Bianca Pollard
- It’s What We Do
- The Congregation
- Great Rides Volume 3:North-west NSW
- Industry Players:Matt Phillpott
- Armour
- Hard-pannier Hard men
- Shop Bike
- Cambodia:Temple Central
- Trophy Hunter
- Chris Birch
- Cannonball Lima Cali
- Bright to The Gulf
- Picture This
- How To Ride with Miles Davis
- Adventure Travel Film Festival
- Miles of Smiles with Karen Ramsay
- Checkout
- Fit Out
Karen Ramsay finds an unhurried trip a great experience.
Although it means I’m starting way off topic, I just need to share something. And before you go saying, “Is it another way you’ve managed to set women’s adventure riding back 10 years?” – I’ll give you that opportunity a little later – a friend took some riding advice from me which he credits for keeping him upright in the Finke Desert Race.
While he didn’t finish, he reckons without my advice he wouldn’t have made it as far as he did. His only regret was the advice ‘when in doubt, throttle out’, came too late to get painted on the tank of his Kawasaki W650. But it was a mantra he repeated numerous times and he reckons it kept him going.
If he decides to have another go he might consider, in combination with the riding advice, practising beforehand.
Write on
My husband Dave and I decided to take advantage of the Congregation and school holidays to see my sister and nieces in Victoria.
Anyone who knows me knows I hate packing. I leave it to the last minute and end up either horribly over- or under-prepared. This time, a quick trip to the big smoke just before leaving meant I needed to pack the weekend before. I can tell you that was a whole lot more stressful than the 12-hour train ride with 60 kids that necessitated the early packing.
Riding from Tenterfield to Moredon Ponds with about 30 riders was fun. Jacquie was the only other female with us, and a few of the blokes were going to have a stern word to her about false advertising. She wore L plates, and when she kicked into motocross mode on Carpet Snake fire trail she left them standing.
Wazza guessed correctly that we would be the ones rolling into the Congregation just before sunset, and that was a Congregation rookie error. Next time we’ll know to get there the evening before to give us a day to chat to everyone. By the time I’d caught up with people I knew, I only actually met a couple of new people (hi, Sharon!).
It was a bit humbling to have a few people come up and say they read my column. It makes me think Karen Ramsay I should perhaps try a little harder to sound like I’m competent.
Opening
After hightailing it down to near Geelong, the rest of the trip took on a very relaxed note.
Time with family was special, but Dave and I were both itching to get riding around some of the Victorian high country.
Catching the ferry across to Sorrento (just because) then buying new boots (because breaking in new boots on short rides is no fun) were all part of the new experiences.
Although it was a case of being told over and over, “You should be here in a fortnight – the roads’ll be open then,” everywhere we went was incredible. It was the time of year for wildflowers and wattle, snow-capped mountains and clear days. It didn’t matter we couldn’t do all the other amazing tracks we’d heard about. The stunning scenery more than made up for that.
Karen Ramsay
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